‘6 MONTHS IN HELL’
Tens of thousands of Israelis set fires in street & cops blast water cannons at crowd as protesters demand hostage deal
It comes after the IDF recovered the body of a hostage captured by Hamas during the October 7 bloodbath
TENS of thousands of Israelis have rallied against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as protesters demanded a hostage deal.
As the war against Hamas reached its six-month mark, people set fires in the streets of Tel Aviv and cops blasted water cannons at the crowds.
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Dramatic footage shows thousands of people holding torches and Israel flags as they walked the streets of the Israeli city.
Holding signs saying "leaving no one behind" and "hostage deal now", protesters in Tel Aviv were joined by families of Gaza hostages and their supporters.
Demonstrators expressed their frustration with the government's inability to free the around 130 hostages who remain in Gaza in the hands of Hamas terrorists.
Israeli media said clashes had broken out between demonstrators and police at the rally.
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It is understood that police blasted water cannons at the protesters to disperse the crowd.
And a car ploughed into crowds at the protest in Tel Aviv, injuring five, the reports.
Police said the driver was arrested.
Organisers said about 100,000 people converged at a Tel Aviv crossroads renamed "Democracy Square" since mass protests against controversial judicial reforms last year.
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Chanting "elections now" and "Elad, we're sorry", they called for Benjamin Netanyahu's resignation as the war in Gaza enters its seventh month on Sunday.
Rallies were also held in other cities, with Israel's opposition leader Yair Lapid taking part in one in Kfar Saba ahead of his departure for talks in Washington.
Gaza six months on: How chaos exploded after October 7 massacre, WW3 threat…and what comes next
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He said at the protest: "They haven't learnt anything, they haven't changed.
"Until we send them home, they won't give this country a chance to move forward."
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said the UK stands by Israel’s right to defend itself.
The PM called for the hostages' release and for the “terrible conflict” to end, adding: “The whole of the UK is shocked by the bloodshed.”
He spoke of his hope for a long-term, sustainable ceasefire.
The PM added: “For the good of both Israelis and Palestinians — who all deserve to live in peace, dignity and security — that is what we will keep working to achieve.”
Demonstrators are to take to the streets again on Sunday, with a rally planned in Jerusalem.
Killed in captivity
On Saturday, Israeli special forces recovered the body of a hostage captured by Hamas during the October 7 massacre.
The IDF said the body of Elad Katzir, who was kidnapped from Kibbutz Nir Oz, was found in the southern city of Khan Younis.
The Israeli forces also claimed they had intelligence that Katzir was "murdered in captivity" by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad group.
Katzir was last seen in January while speaking in a propaganda video published by the terror group which showed him speaking from captivity in Gaza.
His sister Carmit Palty Katzir blamed the Israeli authorities for Elad's death, saying he would have returned alive had the authorities agreed to a new truce.
The recovery of Elad Katzir's body brings to 12 the number of bodies of hostages which the army says it has brought home from Gaza during the war.
The Hamas attack resulted in the deaths of 1,170 people in southern Israel, most of them civilians, according to Israeli figures.
Israel's retaliatory offensive against Hamas has killed at least 33,137 people in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory.
About 250 Israelis and foreigners were taken hostage by terrorists on October 7.
The army says 129 are still being held in Gaza, including 34 who are presumed dead.
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Ceasefire talks
American, Israeli and Hamas negotiators are expected in Cairo over the weekend in a renewed push for a ceasefire and hostage release deal.
Egypt's Al-Qahera News said CIA Director Bill Burns and Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al-Thani would join Egyptian mediators for Sunday's indirect talks between the Israeli and Hamas delegations.
Ahead of the talks, Hamas confirmed its core demands - a complete ceasefire in Gaza and withdrawal of Israeli forces.
The ceasefire attempt comes after Israel admitted its "unintentional" airstrike killed three Brits alongside three other aid workers after blasting a convoy of cars in Gaza.
Benjamin Netanyahu said "This happens in war", as some ships carrying food to the besieged Strip have been turned around.
Six aid workers from the UK, Australia, and Poland, dual citizens of the US and Canada, and their Palestinian driver were killed while travelling in a deconflicted zone, charity World Central Kitchen said.
Three UK nationals are among those to be confirmed dead by the aid organisation.
WCK said its Gaza operations remain suspended after the attack, while other global aid groups said relief work in the territory has become almost impossible.
The WCK workers' deaths led to a tense call between US President Joe Biden and Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Biden urged an "immediate ceasefire" and for the first time hinted at conditioning US support for Israel on curtailing the killing of civilians and improving humanitarian conditions.
WCK said Israel "cannot credibly investigate its own failure in Gaza".
Britain called for a "wholly independent review", while Poland sought a "criminal" probe.
Hours after Biden and Netanyahu spoke, Israel announced it would allow "temporary" aid deliveries through Ashdod port and the Erez border crossing.
UN chief Antonio Guterres called for a "paradigm shift" rather than "scattered measures".
Mahmud Bassal, spokesman for Gaza's Civil Defence agency, told AFP on Saturday that aid reaching Gaza is "absolutely not sufficient" for its 2.4 million people.
Around 1.5 million Gazans are sheltering in the territory's far south, in Rafah.
"We are ordinary citizens and human beings," Siham Achur, 50, said in the tent that is now her family's home.
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"Why did they bomb our house?"
They had lived in Khan Yunis for 30 years, Achur said, but those memories "have become dust".
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